Elizabeth Anne MacGyver
by SentinelSaiyan
Summary: Joyce goes to LA to ride out Buffy's Graduation. When she gets there, she gets a really big surprise! And doesn't anyone stay dead around here anymore?
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" belongs to Joss Whedon, UPN/Paramount, and Mutant Enemy Productions. "MacGyver" belongs to Henry Winkler/John Rich Productions and Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended and no money has changed hands. _

Author's note: I'd like to thank my sister, who is the voice of Joss Whedon in my head and is helping his characters to remain true to themselves. 

This thing is the result of much research and the decision that Buffy needed a better dad than the one she got stuck with. I've tried to remain as true to both series as possible. Since MacGyver has been known to run into things like ancient curses and booby-trapped Incan grain-lofts, we didn't think that running into those things that go bump in the night would be much of a stretch. We did, however, decide that we would completely ignore Buffy's father from the series and the appearances he made in a whole two episodes. It begins during "Graduation," but it extends after it. As for MacGyver, this is all after the series ended. Feedback would be very much appreciated. 

* * *

ELIZABETH ANNE MACGYVER 

* * *

PROLOGUE 

* * *

_Sunnydale, CA, June, 1999..._

Joyce came in the door and looked around for her daughter. "Buffy, I'm home. Do you wanna go to, uh, ...? What are you doing? You're running away again? And you're taking my clothes." Sure enough, the beautiful blonde teenager was packing her mother's suitcases with enough clothes to last a week. 

"Mom, I need you to leave town. Tonight." 

"Buffy, I'd miss your graduation. " 

"Buffy: Yeah, that's sort of the idea." 

The older woman shook her head. "There's no way. I wouldn't dream..." 

"Mom, graduation is a pointless ceremony where you sit around and listen to a bunch of boring speeches until someone hands you a piece of paper that says you graduated which you already know and maroon does nothing for my complexion, so don't argue, okay?" 

"What, is some terrible demon going to attack the school?" She said it sarcastically, but at Buffy's look, she paled. Buffy kept packing. "Oh, I see. Oh, you know, Buffy, looking back on everything that's happened, maybe I should have sent you to a different school." 

"Just promise me that you'll be far away from here." 

_What is she thinking?_ "I'm not leaving you to face an awful monster. If I go anywhere, you're going with me!" 

"You know that I can't." 

Joyce said stubbornly, "Well then I can't either." 

Buffy sighed. "Mom, I know that sometimes you wish I were different." 

"Buffy, no." 

But Buffy knew she had to convince her mother that this was the only way. "I wish I could be a lot of things for you. A great student, a star athlete, remotely normal. I'm not. But there is something I do that I can do better than anybody else in the world. I'm gonna fight this thing, but I can't do it and worry about you." 

Frustration colored Joyce's voice. "Buffy, you just can't ..." 

It was time to pull out the big guns. "You stay, you'll get me killed. You'll have to trust me on this. Can you do that?" Tearfully, knowing that she was right but not wanting her to have to face this fight alone, she nodded. "Good." 

The women hugged fiercely, then separated. Buffy had finished the packing, so she picked up several of the suitcases, leaving only one for her mother, and headed down to put them in the car. Joyce said, "I guess I'll go to LA for a while. How will I know when it's safe to come back?" 

Buffy handed her mother a cell phone. "This is Willow's phone. I'll call you when it's safe. If I don't call within two days, we blew it. Don't ever come back to this town." 

* * *

Joyce sat on the pier, watching the boats as they went along. Of course, she wasn't really seeing them. Her mind was back in Sunnydale, her heart worrying intensely over the safety of her daughter and her friends. 

Suddenly, there was a voice behind her. "Joyce? Is that you?" 

She turned and got a shock. Not the shock of her life, of course. That had been when Buffy revealed her role as the Slayer. But this one certainly ranked. "MacGyver? Oh my God! I thought you were dead!" 

* * *

_Well, this chapter is pretty boring, but it sets the ground work. The next one should be far more interesting! _


	2. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: See prologue. _

Author's note: Italics is thoughts and Mac's characteristic soliloquies. It's probably a good idea if you have a working knowledge of how Mac and Pete first met. I'm going to skip that part. Also, the episode played in March and was supposed to be exactly seven years later. I'm moving that date up a couple of months for the sake of the story. 

* * *

You know, it's funny how a single name or face can spark so many memories. Just one look at this woman and I had a round trip ticket down memory lane. Joyce Summers was one of those girls you can't easily forget. 

Back in 1980, when I was still driving Jack's cab, I picked up a fare, a beautiful artist named Joyce. She had me driving all up and down the California coastline, looking for the perfect spot to catch a sunset. 

It had been early February, and when they'd finally found what Joyce had declared to be the perfect spot, the sun had just been setting, bathing the world in magnificant color. The cold sea air rolled in off the water as she took her pictures, capturing the moment so that she could paint it at her leasure. 

He finally took her to her appartment, managing to finagle a coffee date out of her for the next day. For a month, it was coffee, then dancing, then moonlight walks as the weather got warmer. Mac had begun to believe that this could be the one to replace Kate, and he treasured every moment with her. 

Then, in late April, they had a fight. Joyce was moving to New York in order to show her work and she wanted Mac to go with her, but he couldn't just leave Jack high and dry. It wasn't who he was. She left, crying on the plane, and he just kept driving the cab. He threatened, only in his head, and more than once, to kill Jack the next time he saw him. 

And then he'd picked up another fare, another lovely lady, only it hadn't been a lady, but Murdoc, and so had begun the most rewarding association of his life, that with Pete Thorton. But he had never forgotten Joyce Summers or the joy she had brought him. 

"I saw the car crash on the news, Mac. How could you have made it out of that cab alive?" 

He sighed and said, "I wasn't in it when it blew." He proceeded to tell her about Murdoc and Pete, sitting down beside her to tell her the whole story. "And then Pete asked me to join the DXS. He said I had potential." 

Joyce just shook her head. "That's some story, Mac." She was about to say something else, when the phone in her pocket rang. Worry and wild hope sprang up side by side in her heart. _Please be Buffy!_ "Hello?" 

"Mom?" 

Joyce sighed with relief. "Oh, thank God, Buffy! Are you all right?" 

"I'm fine, Mom. We lost about twenty kids, but we beat him. Conscidering that we armed the entire senior class, I think we did okay. Of course, Sunnydale High didn't fair so well. We kinda blew it up. But in deffence, let me say that it had a hundred-foot demon snake in it at the time." 

"Oh, good. I mean that everyone's okay." Suddenly an idea struck her. "Listen, Buffy. Do you think you could catch a bus and meet me here in LA? There's someone here you should really meet." 

Her voice aquiring a teasing tone, she replied, "Oh _really_!" 

Flustered, Joyce said, "Buffy, it's not like that. I mean it used to be, but -- oh good grief. Can you come?" 

Intrigued and wanting to be close to her mom for a while anyway, Buffy relented. "Okay, Mom. I'll be there tomorrow. Do you want me to meet you somewhere, or do you want to pick me up?" 

"I'll pick you up." 

MacGyver looked at his old lover with expectation, asking for answers with his eyes. Joyce needed time to get her thoughts together, so she said, "Can we go back to your place to talk? I could really use some tea right now." 

"Sure." 

* * *

The tea steamed over Joyce's face. She took a deep breath and started talking. "When I left, I had every intention of coming back, but when I saw that news report, I just...freaked out a little. Okay, a lot. I hated that the last thing you had ever heard from me was that stupid fight. Then I found out I was pregnant." 

Mac was glad he was sitting down. Sam had been enough of a surprise, but now he had another child that he had never known. "Is that who you were talking to on the phone?" 

She nodded. "Yes. Her birth certificate says Elizabeth Anne Summers. I didn't put MacGyver on the certificate because it hurt to even think about you right then. She's a lot like you. I mean, like every other teenager, she hates school, but she's very smart, she's determined and she's very quick to help her friends." She didn't mention the fact that this help usually involved wooden stakes, swords and/or magic. 

Mac smiled. "So, does she know about me? I mean, I don't guess I'd blame you if you kept quiet, but it might give me somewhere to start." 

"Yes. She has that one picture we had taken together at the bazar. It's in a frame on her dresser." 

He nodded. "You sounded worried when you were talking to her. What was that all about?" 

Suddenly, Joyce realized that she had said too much in the presence of a very perceptive man. "Mac, I think that once Buffy knows you, she'll want you to know about this, but it's not my secret to tell. Can you wait on that?" _Please don't ask me, Mac._

Mac raised an eyebrow, but said, "Okay." He wasn't going to push, but he thought he'd ask Nicki at Phoenix to check a few things out for him. After all, even if he had never seen her, this was his daughter, and he wanted to know if she might be in some kind of trouble. "You want me to wait here tomorrow whe you go to get her?" 

Joyce nodded. That would give her time to warn Buffy about just who it was she was going to meet. 

* * *

_Well, there's the second chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get out, but I've had a lot of problems in RL, including my computer coming in DOA (dead on arrival for those who need it translated), so it's been hard for me to get anything done. Enjoy! Feedback is always welcome! _


End file.
